"I wants my children to be educated because I can believe what they tells me. If I go to another person with a letter in my hand, he can tell me what he pleases in that letter and I don’t know any better. But if I got children who read and write, they will tell me the contents of that letter and I will know it’s all right."

-- A Louisiana Freedman

Photo taken at Poindexter’s Store,
Louisa County, VA Courtesy of The Louisa County Historical Society